07 October 2005

War Nerd

When you've got Saudi boys choosing one-way tickets to the WTC over a lifetime lying by the pool with your imported Swedish girlfriend in Riyadh, you've got a serious ideology to deal with.

- from Southern Thailand: the Long Grind

Quote:

The Americans tried to copy the [Russian armoured personnel carrier, the BMP] and came up with the Bradley IFV, which is like a BMP only about a thousand times more expensive. And it still can't take a hit from an RPG. All it's good for is turning a squad of soldiers into beef stroganoff in about one millisecond. But the Israelis thought for themselves, and they came up with the Merkava, a tank that can fight AND transport infantry under real protection. They were the only army to admit: hey, this isn't WW II. You can't take casualties like those any more, not with everybody glued to their TV moaning every time a few dozen soldiers get splattered. Survivability, that's the biggest thing now. And the Merkava was untouchable.